All Aboard The Transportation Distress - QLFC S7R7
by WindelynWhisp
Summary: Based off of the story and characters of JK Rowling's Harry Potter. When a field trip for Muggle Studies goes wrong will the Trio be able to figure out their way back in time?


QLFC S7R7

Team: Pride of Portree

Position: Beater 2

Composition: Department of Magical Transportation

Additional prompts: Newspaper [object] and imitate [word]

Word count: 2844

* * *

All Aboard the Transportation Distress

Professor Charity Burbage was standing in front of her students as they filed in at the entrance to Kings Cross Station. She cleared her throat loudly to make sure all of the young wizards and witches were focused on her.

"Alright class, pay attention please. Now, as I said in class, each of you are to leave your wands with me before entering King's Cross Station. There will be no use for magic for today's lesson. In addition, we want to be sure to not break any rules of magical secrecy. Each of you have been divided into groups. Each member of your team has this device here." She raised her hand to display a small rectangular shaped object that was small enough to fit in her palm. "Now, what is this Muggle device called?"

As a group the class replied, "A pager."

Professor Burbage nodded and smiled. "Yes! Good, now what is the other common word for this contraption?"

She looked around to see if any hands were raised, and to no surprise one hand flew immediately into the a nod she acknowledged the young witch that was almost standing on her tip-toes to get the professor's attention. "Yes, Miss Granger?"

"A pager, also known as a beeper, is a wireless device that receives and displays alphanumeric messages. Pagers can receive, reply to, and create messages using an internal transmitter."

Professor Burbage beamed at Hermione, who never seemed to falter with her well researched answers. "Correct Miss Granger. Five points to Gryffindor."

Harry, Ron, and all fellow Gryffindors grinned appreciatively at Hermione. However, among the crowd of Slytherins, Draco made a gesture imitating Hermione raising her hand for every question the Professor asked, making the Slytherins snicker quietly.

Professor Burbage continued on with her instructions, "Now each group has been given a newspaper that contains the times of departure and arrival of the Muggle trains. Each of you have also been given Muggle currency in order to purchase your train tickets. Be sure to not lose your newspaper, it contains a location that has been circled that will tell you the time and place you are to request for your train ticket as well as the location of the destination."

She paused and saw numerous student's faces ranging from nervous to panicked.

"Please note that each pager that has been issued has been given a locator spell which I have enchanted to a map. That way, in case you get into trouble, we will know where you are. If you get lost or need help, utilize your pagers and enter this number here."

The Muggle Studies professor passed out small pieces of paper with a phone number written on it.

"If this number is paged, either I or another staff member will be along to assist you. Keep in mind, you have until 3:00 pm to arrive at the destination, where I will be waiting. If you do not arrive on time, points will be deducted from today's assignment for every five minutes you are late."

Professor Burbage looked around to make sure everyone was following along and to make sure no one was puzzled over the instructions.

She continued, "Does everyone have their newspapers, pagers, and emergency pager number?" She paused to make sure each student acknowledged her question with a nod. "Any questions?" she asked.

Draco Malfoy released an annoyed sigh and leaned in to his two cronies Crabbe and Goyle and said loud enough for those around him to hear, "This assignment is a joke. The Mudbloods will have an advantage over us, it's not our fault we didn't grow up with filthy Muggles. Just wait until my father hears about this."

"Ahem. Mr. Malfoy, I will not tolerate such language," Professor Burbage said as she approached him. "That remark has earned you a detention. And your comment has given me an idea; Mr. Longbottom, you will not be joining Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, and Miss Granger for today's assignment, instead, Mr. Malfoy will be taking Mr. Longbottom's place. And rest assured, Draco Malfoy, your father will definitely hear of this today when I send him an owl telling him of your crude behavior."

Draco narrowed his eyes at the professor and dragged his feet to join The Trio who also looked none too pleased to have him joining their group.

"Alright, students, as I was saying, does anyone have any questions?"

Several students had looks of terror written across their faces at the idea of being not only alone with fellow classmates but alone in the Muggle world.

Professor Burbage was counting down the minutes left on her watch and then looked up. "As the Muggles say, 'On your marks, get set, go!" she shouted with excitement to her class.

Quickly the divided teams scurried off, several flipping pages through their assigned newspapers, and others attaching their pagers to their clothing. The Trio: Harry, Ron, and Hermione all stood in silence looking at one another.

"So what now?" asked Ron.

"We work together as a group, whether we like it or not," Hermione said with slight agitation in her voice as she looked at Draco.

"Let me have at that map, Granger," Draco said as he snatched the newspaper from Hermione's hands.

Ron stepped in immediately between the two and glared at Draco and instinctively reached for his wand in his right pocket but quickly realized it was empty.

"Not so brave without your wand eh, Weasley?" Draco snickered.

"Enough, just come on and let's get this over with," said Harry.

Draco started walking in front of them looking over the newspaper for their instructions. Hermione was looking around for any signs that would direct them to the ticket booth. Harry and Ron were busy fidgeting with the pagers.

"There, that sign there says the ticket booth is just up ahead," said Hermione pointing to the sign ahead that was labeled Ticket Sales with an arrow.

"Ugh. This assignment is so stupid. And what's worse is the pathetic excuse of a lunch Burbage provided us: 'a Muggle-style picnic'," he said. He imitated the professors excitement in poor taste by overdramatically clapping his hands together. "'Disgusting', I say."

Draco rambled on, complaining while The Trio simply just rolled their eyes and shook their heads at his comments. As they continued to walk several Muggles passed in both directions, one small family was walking in the opposite direction when Draco noticed the small child being pushed in a stroller, the little girl in the stroller was enjoying an ice cream cone. Draco secretly pulled out his wand, the wand that should have been turned in to Professor Burbage; and used a levitating charm to take the ice cream away from the child in the brief moment the family passed by. Draco began to eagerly eat at the ice cream with a smug smile on his face.

"Oi! You were supposed to turn that in, Malfoy," hissed Ron.

"This doesn't make sense," began Hermione, "I saw you turn in your wand to Professor Burbage, how did you get it from her?"

"Burbage apparently loves Muggles so much that she has lost her touch and can't even tell the difference from a real wand and a toy wand that I bought at Zonko's," stated Draco.

As The Trio stood staring in disbelief at Draco a sound of sizzling and popping erupted from their pockets. They pulled out the pagers that had been given to them; each of the pagers were emitting a small hissing sound and Draco's had a small amount of grey smoke seeping out of the small cracks.

"Bloody hell, what happened?" asked Ron.

"I'm positive that Professor Burbage had more than just the reasons of keeping magic secret and keeping the lesson magic free: magic interferes with Muggle electronics,'' said Hermione.

"Is anyone's beeper working?" asked Harry.

Everyone quickly checked all the buttons, and Ron even tapped the small face panel, but one by one looked up and shook their heads no. The Trio glared at Draco.

"Great, now what do we do?" said Ron.

With a sigh, Hermione said, "We do as Professor Burbage said for today's lesson, we navigate in the Muggle world without magic all on our own. Here, I'll take that," she said as she took the newspaper from Draco.

The four Hogwarts students headed towards the ticket booth to purchase their train tickets. Behind the counter was a petite woman, with long flowing black hair that was tied back with a ribbon, she had piercing emerald green eyes. Hermione approached the counter first and the attendant gave her a warm smile.

"Hello my dears, may I help you?" asked the ticket attendant cheerfully.

"Yes ma'am, we need to purchase four tickets to this location at this time please." Hermione handed the newspaper to the attendant that indicated the destination.

With the tickets purchased and directions to the necessary platform number given they were on their way.

"Did anyone else think that attendant was a little off?" asked Ron.

"Not really, why?" asked Harry.

"Not sure, there was just something about her that seemed familiar,'' Ron said. He shrugged and continued on walking to platform seven, where their train would soon be arriving.

The four of them waited on platform seven. The train quickly arrived, stopped on the tracks, and all of the passengers awaiting the train began to board. It was agreed by The Trio that it would be best to stay together as a group in one area of the train to avoid any further problems. Much to Draco's dislike, he had to comply. Hermione was flipping through the various pages of the newspaper in search of their next stop, Ron leaned back into his chair placing his hands behind his head, Harry was still fiddling with the fried pager, and Draco was looking out the window with an unamused expression.

"Do they have snack trolley on Muggle trains?" asked Ron.

"There is sometimes a dining cart for trains that travel long distances, but this is an underground train that makes several stops within the cities. There won't be anything to eat until we get off at our first stop," replied Hermione.

Ron slumped down in his seat in disappointment. "I don't think I like Muggle trains," he said.

A voice boomed over the intercom, "Next stop, Granary Square."

"That is our first stop," said Hermione as she pointed to the indication on the newspaper.

The train began to slow down until it finally came to a stop, and the voice over the intercom announced, "Granary Station."

The four of them exited the train one after the other. They walked until they came upon a lavish food court. It was a street market that offered various cuisines from all over the globe and many sweet treats.

"Wow!" Ron said in awe as his eyes grew big, taking in the sight of all of the various food stalls. "This is way better than the Hogwarts Express trolley," he exclaimed.

"See, not all Muggle things are bad," said Hermione.

"Hmph," said Draco, "says you, the Mudblood."

Hermione turned scarlet in the face. This time Ron didn't reach instinctively for his wand when he intervened, he instead had his fists balled and ready to strike.

"You take that back, Malfoy," said Ron with venom in his voice.

"Or what, Weaslebee?" Draco said stepping closer to him.

Draco pushed Ron back in the chest into Hermione, she fell down to the ground and as she did so, she dropped the newspaper. A vendor pushing a cart came strolling by at that same moment and the paper caught on one of the wheels of the cart and rolled away with the vendor. Harry came to Hermione's side, lending her a hand to help her up.

"Now look what you've done," said Harry looking at Draco.

"We won't know where to go to get on the next train," Ron said with indignation.

"Hermione, do you remember what the newspaper said the destination is?" asked Harry.

Hermione looked a little sheepish. "I just remember that it was a library not far from Kings Cross," she replied. "But maybe there is one of those 'You Are Here' type maps we could use to see the geography of the area and find the nearest library to Kings Cross Station?"

"I think I see one over there by the loo," Harry said, pointing at a framed billboard with a map of the surrounding area.

The Trio hustled over to the map and began urgently searching for anything marked as a library. Draco in the meantime leaned against the brick wall to the bathroom entrances with his arms crossed.

"Are you not going to help?" asked Hermione to Draco.

"Psht. Why should I? You three Muggle-lovers seem to have it all under control," Draco replied.

Harry turned his back to Draco and rolled his eyes, Hermione continued searching the map, and Ron just shook his head.

"There it is!" exclaimed Hermione as she pointed to a large triangle shape on the map labeled 'Camden Town Library'. "That is where Professor Burbage marked as our final destination." Hermione was practically bouncing up and down. "So we need to take the train to Camden Road."

"Oh goodie, look at me, I have all the answers, blah blah blah," Draco said imitating Hermione with a high pitched voice.

"Can't we just leave him behind," Ron whispered to Harry and Hermione.

"Unfortunately, no. Come on, we better get to the platform and ask an attendant which train will take us to Camden Road," said Hermione.

* * *

Once upon the correct train, all four of them sat in silence. Harry seemed to be lost in thought, Ron was dozing off with his face leaned against the window, a small bit of drool emitting from his mouth, Hermione was reading one of the books she had brought along in her bag, and Draco was staring aimlessly around the cabin. The rhythmic sounds of the clunking and screeching of the tracks was suddenly interrupted by a booming voice that came over the intercom announcing the upcoming stop to Camden Road. The sound of the voice jerked them alert and they all quickly sat up in their seats, anxious to get off.

They hastily exited the train, looking for signs to lead them to the Camden Town Library. Harry was the first to spot the sign. It was a tall pole that had several locations and destinations marked with arrows pointing to the direction of which they were located.

"This sign says that the library is straight ahead. Hermione, what time is it?" asked Harry.

Hermione pulled back her sleeve to reveal her Minnie Mouse watch who happily smiled back at her with her mouse arms pointing to the time. "It's 2:57, we better hurry!"

At a run The Trio took off in the direction that the sign pointed for the library. Draco coming behind them at a trot. They arrived to the large three story dark colored brick building. Each level had floor to ceiling windows trimmed in white. They were all panting when they approached Professor Burbage who was sitting on a bench just outside the entrance. She closed the book she was reading and peered at her watch.

"Well, well, three o'clock on the dot. I expected nothing less from you and your group Miss. Granger. Well done, you are the first to arrive. Top marks for you three," Professor Burbage said with a smile as she stood.

Draco was coming up just behind them with a smug look on his face.

"Ah, Mr. Malfoy, glad you could join us. I was just telling your classmates that they received top marks for today's assignment," said the Professor.

Draco's face broke into a wide mischievous smile.

Professor Burbage continued with a gloomy look. "Your classmates did an excellent job considering the circumstances. However, because of those circumstances you unfortunately failed today's assignment."

At that moment, a woman was exiting the library. Her long black hair was no longer tied in a ribbon and she had changed out of her ticket attendant clothing.

"Perfect timing, Ruby," said Professor Burbage. "Let me introduce Ruby Wood, Ministry's Department of Transportation."

"Cheers, mates. Nice to see you again, Ronnie. I work with your father on occasion," said Ruby.

Ron blushed and leaned in and whispered to Harry, "I told you she looked familiar. She was the ticket attendant."

"Indeed, nicely spotted, Ronnie," Ruby said and she winked at Ron.

"Charity asked me to assist with today's assignment, help keep an eye on you lot," explained Ruby.

"And that is how I was made aware of your use of magic, Mr. Malfoy. Magic was not to be used at all for today's lesson," said Professor Burbage. "As the Muggles say, 'cheaters never prosper'. I think assisting the House Elves in washing the dishes from this afternoon's picnic the Muggle way, no magic, should do nicely for your detention." She said with a smile.


End file.
